ArchAI

Problem

As a society we highly value archaeology, it is therefore a legal requirement to assess potential archaeological damages when submitting commercial  development applications. 

In August, the government announced that they want to reduce the time it takes to acquire planning permission from 7 years down to 30 months. Without  innovation, this will reduce accuracy and lead to unexpected archaeological  discoveries during development.

Solution

ArchAI uses AI to automatically detect archaeology using Earth Observation  data which brings instant archaeology assessments to construction. Our  pre-planning tool will allow for accurate estimates of time and cost involved with archaeological assessments. This means that developers will be able to quickly evaluate prospective building locations and avoid pursuing planning applications where that will ultimately be prohibitively expensive. 

Market

The commercial archaeology market in Britain is worth £220 million and in the EU €1.7 billion. Of this market, 50% of the development is on greenfield sites and 60% (desk-based assessment and field evaluation) can be substituted by ArchAI. So, the addressable markets are £66 million and €510 million. 

ArchAI’s pre-planning tool is a Software as a Service with a subscription where  customers have access to different tiers based on the total km²/sensor used for assessments. 

Traction

The technology was tested in a trial with Historic Environment Scotland on the Isle of Arran using LiDAR data. In this trial, we found hundreds of previously  unknown archaeological sites which has generated international interest. We are currently entering the commercial sector and have spoken to several  construction companies who have all emphasized that speed and accuracy  are key at the early planning stages.